Arsenal injury news: David Ospina misses out against Sunderland with groin injury

David Ospina had to sit out Arsenal's FA Cup tie against Sunderland with a groin injury after the Colombian was primed to start his first game at the Emirates since his goof-up against Olympiacos in their second group game in the Champions League. Petr Cech started for the Gunners as they moved to yet another FA Cup third round victory to take their winning streak in the tournament to 13 and a step closer to lifting their third consecutive FA Cup trophy.

Arsenal's official Twitter account came out with the revelation after the Team sheet saw Cech start yet another fixture for the north London club, amid rumours that he would be rested to give Ospina a chance to improve. The Colombian had allowed Olympiacos a route back into the game after letting an innocuous ball from the corner to bounce inside the goal, which ultimately led to the Gunners losing the fixture.

"David Ospina has a slight groin problem and misses today's FA Cup tie," Arsenal tweeted.

The Gunners have a busy schedule coming up and the latest setback takes their injury count to seven, with Mikel Arteta returning in central midfield to give them some much-needed cover in that position. Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sanchez and Tomas Rosicky are the players currently unavailable from the first team, with the Chilean set to miss out against Liverpool in midweek, but should be ready for their trip to the Britannia Stadium next weekend.

Wilshere has been pencilled in for a return by the end of February, while the rest are likely to make their way back slowly in the next two months. The Gunners are currently top of the table, leading Leicester City by two points and have a chance of winning their first league title in over a decade. Manchester City are getting back into top gear, with the Citizens disposing of minnows Norwich 3-0 at Carrow road to progress into the competition.